Six men caught playing online games have been publicly caned in a brutal punishment only meted out in Indonesia’s most conservative region.
Aceh province is the only area where Sharia law is practised in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, and the only region where flogging is practised.
Horrifying images show the beatings inflicted by judicial “executioners”, known as “algojos”.
According to the head of the Jantho City District Prosecutor’s Office, Jemmy Novian Tirayudi, the flogging sentence was carried out against six Acehnese residents who were caught gambling.
The regional government considers gambling, alcohol consumption, same-sex relationships and sexual relations outside of marriage to be violations of the law.
Horrifying images show the beatings inflicted by the judicial ‘executioners’, known as ‘algojos’
A baton hits a prisoner’s back as he is being whipped in Aceh province, Indonesia
Sharia police lead a prisoner to receive his punishment after he was reportedly caught gambling, which is illegal under Sharia law
Footage of the flogging shows prisoners being led by Sharia police from prison vans to stand under a canopy.
An officer holds a bundle of stiff wooden batons, which he is then seen handing to an algojo as he prepares to inflict the violent punishment.
His victims are seen wearing long white robes and bowing their heads as they are whipped.
This comes after shocking footage emerged earlier this year of two couples being beaten after allegedly having sex outside of marriage, in violation of Aceh’s strict laws on gender relations.
Last year, the region’s government introduced increasingly strict laws aimed at “reducing sin” by keeping opposite sexes apart.
Men and women who are not related or married are prohibited from being in close quarters in public places or vehicles.
Lawmakers said the stricter legislation aims to “mold a generation of people who faithfully abide by Islamic values in their daily lives.”
An officer holds a bundle of stiff wooden batons, which he is later seen handing to a thief.
Victims are taken from prison vans to receive their punishments on August 30, 2024
An executioner known as ‘algojo’ carries out a public flogging in the town of Jantho, Aceh
‘Men and women who are not married or related are not allowed to sit together in public places, secluded places or in vehicles,’ the official notice said.
As part of the crackdown on socialising, authorities also ordered the province’s 24-hour coffee shops to close at midnight, limiting the region’s most popular source of entertainment.
The mayor of Banda Aceh, the regional capital, warned that he would deploy Sharia police to enforce the new rules.
Sharia law was granted to Aceh by the central government in Jakarta as part of the region’s bid for autonomy in 2001.
Officers watch as a man, seen clenching his fists, is whipped with a rod in Indonesia
A man who is about to receive a public beating for violating Sharia law is escorted away by Sharia police in Jantho
Monitoring by Amnesty International Indonesia found that Aceh authorities had carried out at least 60 public floggings against 254 people in 2020.
In 2019, reports emerged that a woman and a man lost consciousness when they were whipped during separate public punishments on the same day.
In 2021, two men accused of same-sex “crimes” were each flogged 77 times in front of a crowd of 100 people.
Usman Hamid, Executive Director of Amnesty International Indonesia, said at the time: “No one deserves to be brutalized and humiliated in this way… Flogging constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and can amount to torture.
“We strongly urge the Acehnese and central government authorities to take immediate action to stop this cruel practice and revoke the ordinances that allow it to take place.”
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